One condominium off EM Bypass is home to at least four persons who are contesting the Assembly elections and their neighbours have suddenly realised the pangs of having so-called celebrities in their midst.
Actors Hiran Chatterjee, Payel Sarkar and Srabanti Chatterjee, who are contesting on BJP tickets, and film director Raj Chakraborty, who is from the Trinamul Congress, — all live in Urbana — a housing complex about a kilometre east from the Ruby rotary.
With so many candidates in one housing complex, residents are facing a host of complex situations like a sudden surge of unknown faces swarming around the main gate or in common spaces, many armed with party flags; armed security personnel loitering in lobbies where children play otherwise and party cadres readying the candidates’ cars with flags in the common parking lot.
Raj Chakraborty. Telegraph picture
A host of problems that Urbana residents are unaccustomed to has aggravated to such a level that many have reported it to the housing association, forcing it to step in.
A “standard operating procedure” has been formulated specifically for the four candidates to maintain an “unbiased and apolitical atmosphere” in the housing complex that has 1,170 apartments spread across seven towers.
Hiran Chatterjee. Telegraph picture
Recently, when hundred-odd men and women armed with party flags gathered at the main gate seeking entry to meet a particular candidate, the security personnel at the gate had panicked and contacted the housing association officials seeking immediate advice. Finally, 10 people at a time were allowed inside.
A resident said he saw “more than 100 people” trying to get inside the main gate at the same time. “I felt alarmed. I had never seen anything like this here. They were holding flags of a political party and swarming around the main gate. On checking with the security, we were told that they had come to visit one of our neighbours who has recently joined politics and is contesting the elections,” he said.
Payel Sarkar. Telegraph picture
A mother of two complained about how “awkward” she had felt to see two armed CRPF men standing at the common lobby, while the politician they were accompanying was inside the candidate’s flat. “It does not give me a home-like feeling when I see armed CRPF men standing at the lobby where my children are to play. It felt unacceptable,” she said.
The resident added that at least one more MP who has a flat in the housing who does not stay here. “But things have been never so bad,” she added.
The newly formed SOP includes restricting the entry of party members to 15 who come to visit the candidates, embargo on loitering of their visitors in the common areas, complete ban on any type of symbolic gesture of party representation such as flags or posters and requesting all candidates to ensure that their visitors should follow the prevailing vehicle parking rules in the society.
“All four candidates have been extremely sensitive and have immediately started abiding by the requests we made. No one is allowed inside the housing with flags in hand and there is no further incident of anyone trying to decorate a car with flags in the common area. Party cadres who are coming to visit are also entering through the normal registration process as is done for the remaining visitors,” said an official of the housing association.
The candidates have also been told to ensure that all political meetings should be held inside the individual’s apartment with strict embargo on using the common spaces.
With restrictions inside the housing, the action has now shifted outside the main gate.
“One day, I saw BJP supporters preparing for a bike rally just outside our gate while Trinamul cadres tying flags on the railings on Anandapur Road. It was quite a sight!”
On a lighter note, a member of the association said one of the “better things” that has happened in the past few weeks is a sudden surge in number of visitors and a considerable rise in revenue from food sale in Club Urbana. “The sale in the club (of food) has shot up,” he said.
